Seattle Department of Transportation installs new 'driver report card' signs to promote safe driving practices

As part of a public education and awareness campaign, the Seattle Department of Transportation began installing “driver report card” signs at intersections last week with the goal of increasing safe driving behavior.

The move is just the first step in a larger, $350,000 campaign meant to make Seattle drivers understand two things: that 25 mph speed limits save lives, and that every intersection is a crosswalk. The “report card” signs are meant to remind drivers of the second point.

Under state law, every intersection is a legal pedestrian crossing whether there’s a painted crosswalk or not. That means drivers are legally required to stop and allow pedestrians to pass at nearly every intersection. The only exception is if there’s an official sign that says pedestrians cannot cross at that specific location.

The department surveyed 1,000 Seattle residents and found that 70% of respondents said that they always stop for people at intersections with painted crosswalks. Less than 40% of respondents said they always stop for people at intersections without painted crosswalks. But based on its real-time observations of Seattle intersections, the department said those numbers are actually closer to 20% and 10%, respectively.

“Clearly, we have significant work to do to make sure everyone knows and obeys the law,” the department said in a blog post about the signs.

The blue signs will be posted at 13 intersections with and without marked crosswalks in the coming weeks. They’ll be updated weekly to show the percentage of drivers who stopped for pedestrians at that intersection the week prior.

The first two were installed Friday in West Seattle’s High Point neighborhood. One is at a painted crosswalk at the intersection of 34th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street, and the other is at an unpainted crosswalk at the intersection of Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Sylvan Heights Drive.

During real-life observations of those intersections, 46% of drivers stopped to let pedestrians pass at the intersection with painted crosswalk, while no drivers stopped at the intersection without a painted crosswalk. Those findings are based on the behavior of 25 drivers who approached the intersections while a volunteer stood by waiting to cross.  

The next signs will be placed the Rainier Beach neighborhood, the department said. The city will use the signs for about six weeks in each location. Afterward, the department will take the signs down and use data collected during the trial to shape its public education campaign moving forward.

“We’re intentionally doing this work now prior to the start of our broader public education campaign, so we can better understand how effective these signs are by themselves,” the department said. “This will also be a starting data point that we can use for our analysis, evaluations and further comparisons later.”

The city is paying for the bulk of its campaign using a $250,000 grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, and plans to cover the remaining $100,000 by utilizing funds available through two city programs.

The driver report card tactic was originally pioneered in St. Paul, Minn. There, the number of drivers who stopped at all intersections to let pedestrians cross reportedly doubled from 30% to 62% just weeks after the signs were installed.

“The signs are intended to make drivers think about how their behavior compares with other drivers and encourage them to change their behavior to do better,” the department said. “We hope that this tiny bit of peer pressure will nudge drivers to rethink their habits and make pedestrian safety a higher priority.”